With the end of the latest WePlay Academy behind us, it means another winner was crowned, and that was fnatic Rising! It marked the first WePlay Academy where the winner wasn't MOUZ NXT, who won all 4 of the previous events, but this time didn't make it beyond the group stage after several poor showings.

fnatic Rising were challenged and defeated by only PROSPECTS, Spirit Academy & Astralis Talent in the group stages, after they bulldozed through Eternal Fire Academy, MOUZ NXT, NAVI Juniors, and rematches with Spirit & PROSPECTS. This meant fnatic Rising were able to finish top of Group A with 24 points, with Astralis, Spirit & NAVI academy teams all finishing behind fnatic with 21 points. 

Next up were the playoffs, where fnatic Rising were able to see off Astralis Talent 2-1, reverse sweeping them after they narrowly beat fnatic in overtime on Ancient, however fnatic Rising were able to boost themselves and win Vertigo (16-14) & a final demolishing on Overpass (16-9) to seal the deal. Next up was BIG Academy, who were roundly sent home with a 2-0 defeat across Mirage (16-11) & Vertigo (16-10). It was time for the Grand Final, and Spirit Academy had come through Astralis (2-0) & BIG (2-1), the losers of matches against fnatic Rising earlier on. fnatic didn't hold back and were able to narrowly take them down 16:14 on Mirage, before delivering the ultimate gut punch with Spirit getting just 1 round on Mirage, for a 16:1 victory to fnatic and delivering them a $45,000 bonus in the simplest manner possible. For Spirit Academy though, they also got $20k for all their work getting to the finals at least.

Whilst neither of the final teams have anything on their public calendars for the future currently, there's no doubt they'll both more than likely be appearing at the next WePlay Academy, which will likely begin in approximately 2-3 months time, given the delay between previous incarnations of the competition.